Unbroken
by Lil'Conqueror
Summary: She had hope. She would always have hope. (Set during 5x13)


**A\N: **Tonight's episode of TVD was agonizing and after I seen it, I knew I had to write something to make up for the fact that there was no Elena! :( Damnit! Hope this does the storyline well, be sure to review and tell me what you think. Might make a second chapter, but for now it's just a oneshot!~

* * *

Have you ever felt so lost? So incredibly unaware of reality happening around you, stuck in this small space of darkness, clinging to this claustrophobia like a second skin. You cannot escape. There's no where for you to run to. You have cease to exist and there's no one out there that can hear your screams. They're falling on deaf ears and you're irrevocably alone. So utterly broken down to nothing and you're just _alone_.

My body felt horribly heavy and it was impossible to open my eyes. It felt like they were sealed shut, darkness the only thing I'll ever see in my time. I wasn't sure how long I laid there; well technically, it felt like I was hovering over something. Probably nothing, but still hovering. I couldn't will my body to move, not even a single twitch of my fingers. I was frozen, everything felt numb and yet, I felt nothing at all.

I didn't know where I was or what time it was. For all I knew, it was night. Forever it would be, too. Even so, my mind was racing a mile a minute. Every thought, every course of action I took in my lifetime, rippling through pieces of time that did not go unnoticed by me.

The good times and the bad. My smiling moments and the moments where I was choking back sobs. My heart, although cold and undead, clenched within the confines of my rib cage and I felt so hollow on the inside.

I wanted to move, to scream. _Anything _would have sufficed, but my body refused to move.

Abruptly, there was a faint buzz surrounding me. I couldn't make out a specific sound, but it was a low hum that ignited through my bones, down my spine. I flinched. What was that? Where was I? What was going on? So many questions and I could hardly focus on anything at all, much less the answers to them.

No one was going to find me.

No one even knew I was missing.

After all, I was lost and I was not going to be found.

* * *

Katherine was starting to get annoyed with Jeremy's inability to open his damn eyes. How tiresome it was to play the role of a heroic Elena Gilbert when all she really wanted to do was whisk Stefan away to the nearest vacant and finish everything they started the first time they were in his bed. Oh, that had been an enchanting night.

Cursing under her breath, Katherine began to bang on Jeremy's chest. Why the hell wasn't he waking up? She had already tried mouth-to-mouth, what more could she possibly do for this damn brat?

_Ba-dump._

Inwardly, the traveling doppleganger swore that if he didn't open his eyes within the next minute, she was just going to leave his body to rot and say to hell with it all. Again, she pushed against his hard chest.

_Ba-dump. Ba-dump._

_Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump._

Ready to just forsake the kid, Katherine leaned back and glared down at the boy. As if it would actually matter, she gave it one more go, pressing excessively against his chest and without another second to waste, he abruptly gasped for breath, inhaling so sharply she was startled backwards.

_Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump._

She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a sudden weight lifting off her shoulders for some reason. It wasn't completely unwelcoming, but she was mildly confused.

Without warning, she gasped in pain as a sharp object pierced her shoulder from behind, forcing her forward, eyes wide in surprise.

**Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump. **

**Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.**

* * *

Something was wrong. One moment I was completely numb to anything and everything and in the next second, I felt everything all at once. Nothing too outrageous, but there was a dull pain in my shoulder that I couldn't remember feeling before. There was also a tug in my chest, something tight that caused my breath to escape me.

And in that next second, everything came crashing down around me, my eyes opening wildly.

Everything that should have been black before was suddenly blazing in an intense ray of colors.

I could finally breathe.

* * *

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Jeremy's astonished expression staring between me and whomever was behind me. Everything felt slow to me, like someone was deliberately going at such a pace to see everything all at once, to not miss a single beat. One emotion after the next came rushing back to me and surprisingly, that hurt a lot more than the wound I had somehow sustained mere seconds ago.

I wasn't sure what was going on around me, for I could only focus my attention on my brother. I reached out slowly, watching to touch his face, to feel his skin beneath my fingertips so I knew it was real. That _this _was real. It felt like I hadn't used my vocals in so long for I couldn't find my voice in that moment. Things were happening around us, but it was like it didn't even matter.

Jeremy's name was on the tip of my tongue, I could feel it wanting to spill past my lips in a hushed whisper.

However, the moment was over too soon when another familiar voice sounded through my ear drums and bringing me back to the scene behind us.

We weren't alone I realized as I tried to stand up. Stefan had moved to my side to quickly rip the huge shard of wood from my back and Jeremy stood up, too. Enzo was by Damon's side and when my eyes clashed with his piercing blue ones, something cracked within me.

Those eyes, those crippling bright blue eyes were familiar alright.

Just not to the man that I had fallen in love with.

Something had happened to him.

Actually, _someone _had broken the man that everyone had worked so hard to piece back together, to make _whole._

Our eyes refused to leave one anothers, most likely for different reasons, but neither would budge. I wanted to reach out to Damon, much like I had wanted to do with Jeremy. I wanted to envelope this beautiful, broken man into my arms and never let him go. I wanted to tell him that I'm sorry for failing him, to tell him how much I truly loved him for everything that made him who he was.

But I couldn't and I knew why.

As Enzo walked towards the exit and Damon turned to follow him, Stefan stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey Damon," He turned, eyeing his baby brother. "Don't bother coming back."

My body froze and Damon seemed to actually ponder this demand before he turned back around, his voice emotionless as his expression.

His final words were enough to shake me back to reality and I felt my temper flare despite the sharp shooting pain in my shoulder.

"I wasn't planning on it."

_Katherine._

* * *

I wasn't sure how long it took for everyone to regroup and explain what was going on with what. I wasn't even sure how I even made it back to the dorm room to try and assess the wound that refused to close. A splinter could've been the cause of that, but I couldn't find it in myself to care at this point. Everything was a jumble in my head. I didn't know what was what or where to even go from here.

Who was that man I was staring at earlier? Why was he with Enzo? What did Katherine do while in my body?

So many questions and not one of them were being answered. Thinking back on it, I should have stopped Damon right then and there when he was walking out. I should have said something to Stefan as we were making our way back to the dorms. Why wasn't I saying anything at all? I knew damn well I wasn't mute. My voice was there, but I just couldn't get the words to form.

In the mirror, I could see Stefan staring at me with his head slightly bent. He seemed oddly at ease despite what had just transpired.

"Need any help?" He asked, his voice small even to my ears and yet I merely grunted, shaking my head and with a quick flick of my fingers, pulled the splinter out and tossed it on the desk.

Nodding his head mutely, he slowly walked over to me.

"You've been quiet since we left." He noted, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "Are you okay?"

I mauled over his words carefully, slightly curious on how Katherine had handled things for the short lived while that she had control over my body.

_Tell him!_

Tilting my chin up, I stared back at him impassively. After a moment, I maneuvered around his rigid form and made my way towards the door. I easily side-stepped Caroline who had just begun to turn the knob to enter and left without another word, ignoring their piercing eyes on my back as my destination filled my mind.

_He wasn't the person I should be talking to._

* * *

Everything felt fuzzy. She wasn't sure just how long she might have been out, but in the next moment, everything suddenly became clear.

Elena had somehow taken control over her body again. She wasn't sure how that was even possible, she shouldn't have had any power over that right whatsoever, it shouldn't have even happened! Something was definitely wrong and she needed to find a way out of wherever the hell this place was!

Everything was dark and void. Like a black hole that lead to nowhere and everywhere all at once. But it was as if she were blind. Her eyes would not open and she could hear the faint sounds of something in the distance that scared her more than would she let on.

She tried to scream, to make some type of sound to alert someone out there that she was here and in need of help.

But nothing happened.

No one heard her.

She was alone.

* * *

I knew they couldn't have gone far. It hadn't even been a half hour since we had went our separate ways and I knew that I could catch up if I made good time. I had an inkling that they would first feed before putting greater distance between us. Enzo was forced to fight with Stefan and I was more than positive he needed a quick bite before continuing on.

Furthermore, whatever they had planned that forced everyone to collide like that, they needed to sit down and think over their next course of actions. So with that in mind, I sped in and out of the trees, a vast blur to anyone that might have chanced upon me. I needed to find him, to tell him everything.

'_Damon!' _I inwardly swore, my eyes narrowing as tears pricked the corners of my lids.

A few more miles in and I could faintly hear the sound of a woman screaming, the ear-piercing scream did not fall on deaf ears, even so far away yet. Picking up speed, the scream got a lot softer and I was momentarily stunned as a strong arm shot out and shoved me backwards.

Catching myself before I tripped, I allowed my wild eyes to adjust to the darkness until they finally clashed with blue orbs.

And for the first time tonight, I found my voice.

"D-Damon!" My body moved automatically and noticing it, said person quickly glared at me, halting me mid-step.

"What are you doing out here, Elena? Go home!" His eyes widened minimally, staring me down in a way that was meant to frighten me, but it only furthered to grate on my nerves.

I knew Katherine had done something to Damon to make him act this way and I knew that I had to tell him what was going on right now because I wasn't sure when and where Katherine would rear her ugly head back in.

I shook my head and took a step forward, not missing the way Damon tensed up.

"Damon, you need to listen to me-"

Suddenly, Damon had his large hand wrapped around my throat and he shoved me hard against a random tree.

"No, _you _listen to me." His tone had lowered to dangerous levels of sinister and I could make out the faint spots of veins starting to protrude from beneath his eyes. "You need to _leave. _Don't look back and don't come looking for me again. Didn't you say we were over? Go home to Stefan." He applied pressure to my neck, trying to enforce his point and I almost gagged out of reflex.

Wait, what?

Removing his hand from my neck, he turned back around and started walking away. Instantaneously, I felt a familiar sharp pain in my chest again. I groaned, clenching at my chest with a desperate need to ease the ache that I felt.

_'Ka-Katherine-'_

**Get out of _my _****body!**

I growled and dropped to my knees, the sudden sound and movement had Damon whirling around to look at me, a flash of something soft and genuine deep within his eyes and he flashed to my side.

"Elena, what's wrong?!"

Inwardly, I smiled. I missed that tone of voice.

**Damnit, Gilbert! _Get out!_**

I groaned louder, hunching over in such agony and I grasped Damon's open hand tightly in my own, trying so hard to will myself not to crush his wrist in the process.

"Elena? Elena!"

_'I have to say it now! I have to-'_

_**NO!**_

I forced my head up, a monsterous snarl ripping past my parted lips, my fangs flashing darkly in the pale moonlight. I could feel the veins beneath my eyes popping out as my eyes gleamed red from the mirror that I could see within Damon's own blue eyes.

Those sweet, genuine, sincere blue eyes.

I was breathing heavily and I knew my time was coming to a close. Katherine was gaining control and she was overpowering me a lot easier than she had in the beginning.

Sneering, I launched myself into Damon's body, knocking us both over so I straddled him from above. I took both of his wrists into my small hands and pinned them to either side of his head; the movement so quick, Damon didn't have time to put up a fight of protest. His eyes so deep and filled with so many different emotions and all I could do was glare at him.

I was furious. I couldn't recall why or how it all tide together into this one moment, but I was livid. Whatever Katherine had done in my absence, it had taken a toll on the one person who meant the world to me and I tried so hard not to let this moment slip up in my time to say what had to be said.

When I opened my mouth to speak, the words did not come out like I had meant them to. They were rushed and hoarse, angry and hurt, but I didn't have to time explain or make amends because my doppleganger was easily overpowering my will and it was all I could do to pin down the older Salvatore.

"I don't know if we're still fighting or not at this point, but you need to get the hell over it Salvatore! We've been down this road too many goddamn times and I've told you over and over again and you need to _get over your goddamn self, _Damon!" I started to cough and wheeze and it took several long breaths for me to try and squeeze in the more important words before I lost myself once again. "I love _you, _Damon. Damon, you _know! _You know me better than-" More coughing. "Tha-than anyone!"

_**You fucking bitch! Give up!**_

I visibly flinched as a wave of excruciating pain wracked my entire body and I rolled off of Damon, falling to the forest floor with a thud. Damon quickly got up and leaned over me, his expression a mixture of countless things but I couldn't focus properly to make them out.

"I-It's not me, Damon...It's not-" Another flash of pain and I closed my eyes, darkness enveloping me like a forbidden embrace of a lover that wasn't meant to be.

You know me, Damon. You've always known, haven't you?

My eyes refuse to open again, even when I could hear the small sounds of a voice I wanted so badly to answer.

Broken and alone, I was thrown back into the cell of despair and the only comforting feeling I had was my love for the one man who had changed my life forever.

_Damon! Thank God!_

A desperate embrace, the fleeting moment of safety in the arms of one single man.

Relaxing her tense body, she allowed the memory of that moment in his arms to give her peace and soon she realized, she wasn't broken or alone. She poured her faith into the man who had countless times been that light in her darkest moments.

In that supposed monster, she found happiness that consumed her entire being to the point of no return.

She could practically hear Katherine's snob comments about being a fool and sure, maybe it looked that way. But she was always a firm believer that love would conquer all and even in hell, with the odds against her, she refuse to allow Katherine the satisfaction of seeing her fall.

Yes, she had hope. No matter what, she would always have hope.

_'Have fun in my body while you can, _Katherine, _I'll be taking it back soon.' _


End file.
